Empower Olive: Uplifting Uganda's Maternal Care

Did you know that in Uganda, one nurse takes care of an estimated 11,000 patients?

Did you know that many women in Uganda cannot afford prenatal care because it costs 25 cents a visit?

Did you know that in Uganda, mothers die 10x times more often during childbirth than in the United States and 84x times more often than in Germany?

We are a team of executive students at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and want to help! We strongly believe that everyone has a right to quality healthcare, so we have partnered with H.E.L.P. International - a 501c3 humanitarian aid organization focused on building self sustainable communities - to bring medical care to the most vulnerable mothers in the town of Masese.

Over the past few weeks, we have met with the organization's founders and their only local nurse - Olive - to brainstorm ideas and implement a sustainable strategy to fight maternal death rates. We learned that Olive works long hours every day to look after the community's children and their mothers, but lacks basic supplies to provide reliable care. While Olive holds her initial nursing license, she is also extremely passionate about returning to school for additional skills. However, at $900 a semester (that's about twice the average annual salary in Uganda!), this remains an unattainable dream for her.

Through this fundraiser, we hope to raise enough money to make the following plans a reality:

Our goal is to provide the community with a solid skillset that can be sustained with minimal international support and that will improve the overall health of expecting mothers and their unborn children for decades to come.

Please consider contributing a few dollars to this cause - every cent makes a difference in the fight for global health equity. Best of all, a very generous donor has offered to match the first $1000 of donations.

TOGETHER, WE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD!!!